System and method for automatic management of many computer data processing system pipes

Abstract

A process control method and system including partitioning transmit decisions and certain measurements into one logical entity (Data Plane) and partitioning algorithm computation to update transmit probabilities into a second logical entity (Control Plane), the two entities periodically communicating fresh measurements from Data Plane to Control Plane and adjusted transmit probabilities from Control Plane to Data Plane. The transmit probability may be used in transmit / discard decisions of packets or instructions exercised at every arrival of a packet or instruction. In an alternative embodiment, the transmit probability may be used in transmit / delay decisions of awaiting instructions or packets exercised at every service event.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PATENTS[0001]The present invention relates to the following documents, all of which have been assigned to the assignee of the present invention and are fully incorporated by reference herein.[0002]Patent application Ser. No. 10 / 405,673 filed Apr. 1, 2003, by Ganesh Balakrishnan, et al., entitled “Method and System for Managing Traffic within a Data Communication Network”.[0003]U.S. Pat. No. 6,404,752 filed Aug. 27, 1999, issued Jun. 11, 2002, entitled “Network Switch Using Network Processor and Methods”.[0004]Patent application Ser. No. 09 / 543,531, filed Apr. 6, 2000, by Brian M. Bass, et al., entitled “Full Match (FM) Search Algorithm Implementation for a Network Processor”.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0005]1. Technical Field[0006]The present invention relates to congestion management of information in computer systems and / or communications networks.[0007]2. Prior Art[0008]The use of flow control mechanisms and techniques for managing cong...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a computer system with a quality of service (QoS) that can offer meaningful loss and latency guarantees to a computer system with many pipes. The invention includes a general purpose computer that reports congestion data to a lookup mechanism, which stores transmit probabilities for each pipe. The system uses an algorithm to update the transmit probabilities for each pipe based on congestion information and other factors. The invention can handle high bandwidth flows, low bandwidth flows, and a mix of both. The invention can be partitioned into three tasks: transmit decision, transmit probability update algorithm, and congestion information for pipei. The invention ensures that each pipe has a fair amount of bandwidth and predictable latency."

Problems solved by technology

The problem is: how can many pipes, perhaps thousands of pipes, be allocated bandwidth correctly with minimal processor assets and computational complexity?

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